Steve Martin Wins His First IBMA Awards

Artist Highlights from 2009 International Bluegrass Music Awards

Oct 3, 2009 Lisa L. Rollins

The 20th annual IBMA event in Nashville on Oct. 1, 2009, boasted first-time winners, such as Steve Martin, as well as bluegrass favorites, including Dan Tyminski.

This year’s International Bluegrass Music Awards, which were held Oct. 1 in Nashville, boasted a big-name, first-time winner in actor-comedian Steve Martin, as well as a handful of repeat prize-takers.

Now celebrating its 20th year, the annual IBMA event was hosted by Kath Mattea & Hot Rize from the stage of Music City’s historic Ryman Auditorium, where accomplished banjo player Martin, who made his Grand Ole Opry debut earlier this year, garnered his inaugural IBMA trophies, albeit in "minor" categories, for Best Liner Notes and for Best Graphic Design in honor of his debut bluegrass album, The Crow.

Banjo Player Steve Martin Scores Inaugural Music Awards

During the awards, Pete Wernick jokingly introduced Martin as “a man who needs an introduction” to the bluegrass community. Moreover, Wernick continued in jest, with a name like “Martin,” he could have been related to Jimmy Martin or Benny Martin—but he wasn’t.

“He took the typical bluegrass career path of learning magic tricks, learning to make balloon animals and working at Disneyland,” Wernick said, adding that Martin now refers to his movie producing and acting career as “the lost years,” in an effort to “turn his life to oblivion, poverty and banjo rolls.”

During the event, Martin took the stage to play an original number, Saga of the Wild West, backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers, who won the 2006 IBMA Emerging Artists prize.

Runners-up No More: Bluegrass Group The SteelDrivers Yield IBMA Win

However, in addition to IBMA-newcomer Martin, audience members were excited to see The SteelDrivers—nominees but never winners for Americana Music Association, CMA and Grammy honors—finally score a win by securing the IBMA’s Emerging Artists of the Year

Not surprisingly, bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent, which is composed of Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent, continued their hot streak by landing the IBMA’s Entertainer of the Year for the second consecutive year. Then, the duo, along with their entire band, collected the Vocal Group of the Year award as well as Gospel Recorded Performance for the song On the Other Side, which was written by former Statler Brothers member Jimmy Fortune, Kevin Denney and Tom Botkin.

Upon accepting their Entertainer trophy from presenters Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White, bassist Vincent told the crowd, “Bluegrass fans are the best fans in the whole wide world. We’ll do our best again this year to take it to the masses.”

2009 IBMA Awards Honor Top Bluegrass Instrumentalists

In the instrumental category, Rob Ickes, who is celebrating 15 years as a co-founder of Blue Highway, took home his 11th trophy for Dobro Player of the Year and Michael Cleveland’s winning streak endured, too, making him a seven-time Fiddle Player of the Year recipient at the IBMA event.

Additionally, Cleveland’s band, Flamekeeper, was named Instrumental Group of the Year for the third consecutive year and also nabbed the Instrumental Recorded Performance award for a Bill Monroe classic, Jerusalem Ridge, as Flamekeeper bass player Marshall Wilborn and mandolinist Jesse Brock both received top honors on their respective instruments.

Bluegrass Musician Dam Tyminski Takes Home Two IBMA Trophies

Another crowed favorite, Dan Tyminski, didn’t let a bad case of laryngitis stop him from whispering his gratitude-filled acceptance for Male Vocalist of the Year. And he also earned a second trophy, thanks to his current release, Wheels, which was named Album of the Year.

Bluegrass Rocks the Ryman: International Bluegrass Hall of Fame Inductions

Band leader Doyle Lawson, considered a living legend in bluegrass, inducted the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Band member Bobby Osborne, who already is a member of the Hall of Fame with his brother, Sonny, in The Osborne Brothers, became the first person in the history of the Hall of Fame to be inducted twice.

“I never thought when I left home in 1949 with an old guitar my dad paid $30 for—with no case—that I’d ever amount to a hill of beans,” Osborne said. “I never dreamed of nothing like this when I joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers. It led to many, many things in bluegrass music. ... Since that day I always had my sights set way down the road, and I still ain’t finished with it yet.”

John McEuen Presents The Dillards with International Bluegrass Music Honor

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s John McEuen inducted The Dillards into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. Without influential foursome who hail from Salem, Mo., McEuen said, he would not have picked up the banjo. And without McEuen, the Dirt Band wouldn’t have included bluegrass and there would have been no Will the Circle Be Unbroken albums—which introduced the bluegrass genre to a generation of fans in the early ‘70s.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Rodney Dillard said. “Bluegrass has allowed me to make friends all over the world. It’s given me a wonderful family, and by the grace of God we got this while we’re still alive,” he added, smiling. “We all thought that in order for this to happen, one of us would have to die—but no one wanted to volunteer!”

For a complete list of this year's IBMA winners, please click here.

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Dan Tyminski at the IBMA event.	Dailey and Vincent accept a 2009 IBMA prize.	Steve Martin performs at the IBMA event in 2009.
IBMA logo	Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper